Teachers and other civil servants are urged to donate their salaries to fight hunger
Rigathi Gachagua, the country’s deputy president, has urged all salaried workers, including teachers and clerical staff, to set aside a portion of their pay for famine relief.
Gachagua disclosed that in an uncommon act of kindness, members of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and their NYS counterparts gave money equivalent to one day’s salary to malnourished Kenyans.
“Already, our men and women in the KDF have offered to forego a day’s salary to contribute to the response kitty,” he stated.
He added, “NYS has also made their contribution.”
The DP stated that the contributions will go toward the response kitty while speaking at the National steering committee on drought response’s inauguration.
“We appeal to Kenyans of goodwill to contribute as percentage of their salaries to a pay bill number we shall be publishing soon,” he stated.
He also took the chance to express his gratitude to the religious organizations, which he claimed have been mobilizing food donations for the devastating famine crisis.
He claimed that in order to realize the full potential of the ASAL region, both levels of government must provide increased budgetary support.
“We cannot and must not wait for additional rain seasons to fail in order to act,” he posed.
The committee, which includes CEOs of several top-tier private organizations, including banks, is led by Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.
Cabinet secretaries Alice Wahome (Water and irrigation) and Penina Malonza were present during the event (Tourism).
For his part, Ndegwa thanked President William Ruto for having faith in them.
He claimed that they now have the chance to coordinate their efforts in order to offer long-term solutions to the problem the country is currently facing.
“We are here to support, we will strive to deal with the emerging issues and also provide long term interventions,” he said.
Gachagua pointed out that Kenyans living in counties with food surpluses can donate through the county commissioners’ office and the governors’ office.
He said that the taskforce will work with the governors and county commissioners to distribute the food to the Kenyans who are suffering in the 23 ASALs and isolated areas of nine other counties.
